Why REBIRTH failed and how it may ultimately lead to the end of DC as we know it
So I want to preface this conversation by stating that I do believe DC Comics will survive in some capacity. I think it will be more in the line of adapted media, OGNs, and special series, and less monthlies. But they will endure because there's still too much money to be made in IPs that AT&T won't reject outright
Having said that, I do want to talk about the failure of REBIRTH and how (IMO) its failure has pushed DC to the brink. Many DC fans will likely point to NEW 52 as this catalyst event but DC not only seemingly solved the issues created by NEW 52 with REBIRTH but had garnered much fanfare and momentum with the initial one-shot. I freely admit Geoff John's REBIRTH special is still my favorite comic book from 2010-2019, and through today.
So what went wrong?
For starters, DC waited far too long to get Doomsday Clock rolling, and then that series itself was plagued with delays throughout its publication. What should have been a major story in DC's history instead turned into a message board joke, and DC chose to push Heroes in Crisis and Metal in its place. Further, the hints placed in the REBIRTH special that were picked up in other titles (such as Flash, Superman, Titans, etc.) were dragged out and then eventually dropped or dramatically changed once it was clear DC lost interest in Doomsday Clock. Upon its conclusion, the series essentially has no relevance to the current DC status quo.
Second, it's quite obvious Didio hated, hated, hated (did I say hate?) the very notion of REBIRTH. While he has admitted to poor planning leading to issues with NEW 52, he has openly called out any success that REBIRTH experienced as strictly nostalgia based and has stood stead-fast in his belief that while NEW 52 ultimately failed, it was a much more fulfilling experience for him than REBIRTH ever was. It's hard to push a company-wide initiative designed to reestablish faith from the fan base when the guy in charge detests said initiative.
Third (and somewhat directly tied to the previous point), because Didio fell out of favor with Rebirth as quickly as it was published, he decided to change course again by developing 5G behind the scenes. This initiative, hinted at and rumored about for almost a year now, was to drastically alter the DC timeline and replace long-time heroes with replacements. DC got some of these elements off the ground before those behind-the-scenes began sabotaging it by anonymously reporting how terrible and disorganized the whole premise was. Eventually these reports coupled with other prevalent problems with editorial lead to Didio's ousting from DC. This had a domino effect where those who were less-than-passionate about Didio's traditionalist mindset with the direct market were now having DC break away from Diamond, which in turn caused many of the few remaining comic book stores around the country to shutter (in addition to the pandemic), which further cut into DC's profit margin and lead to massive layoffs in addition to rumors of the end of monthly periodicals coming down the pipeline.
Yes...I understand the third point may be deriving too much from REBIRTH's failure especially given the pandemic but I believe had DC had faith in REBIRTH and put its full energy into it, they may have had enough good grace with fans today that Didio may still be in charge. Then again, you have fans who will state that REBIRTH had no chance for success in the bubble of NEW 52, and that the only way DC could have actually fixed things was to completely undo NEW 52.
Anyway, I'm curious to hear some of your thoughts regarding all of this. I probably went on a much longer rant than I expected but this has been burning on my mind for a while now.
